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Title: May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy by Andrew S. Zimbalist, Bob Costas ISBN: 0-8157-9728-1 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: 05 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Baseball¿s Business Side Revealed
Comment: Andrew Zimbalist's "May the Best Team Win" explains to the reader just how much the game aspect of baseball has dwindled over the years. Many owners nowadays seem to want to maximize profits out of their teams, not wins.
He goes into detail about the history of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) and their fights against ownership. It is interesting to note that while the union is portrayed as the goat for many of the past labor work stoppages, after reading this book one can understand why the union's grievances with ownership are what they are. They have also harbored feelings of distrust not just against the owners, but against commissioners as well: Ueberroth and his role in the collusion scandal of the 1980s, and Selig and his ludicrous demands thrown on the bargaining table along with his claim after the 2001 season that Major League Baseball was in the red by millions of dollars.
Zimbalist studies Major League Baseball's exemption from antitrust legislation, how it came about, and how it is congressionally and judicially deemed today. While it seems baseball will retain exemption so long as they can police themselves, given the bevy of problems plaguing the game (or, rather, business) today, it seems that the government must sooner or later step in and right the many wrongs. If baseball were not exempt from antitrust legislation, notwithstanding the fact that owners could sell a team to municipalities and amateurs could challenge the right of a team to withhold exclusive rights to their services for up to seven years, one would find out just how much money ownership really lost and by how much the number would differ from Selig's number.
He writes with a viewpoint that seems to place most of the blame, right or wrong, on ownership and the commissioner's office. Labor problems aside, if the owners and commissioner would be open and honest with the union and the government while striking accord between themselves over what issues they should bring to the bargaining table, Zimbalist seems to rightly conclude this would lead to amicable relations between the union and management. He cannot be wrong in blaming management-because of their antitrust exemption, they are given a lot of liberty that many corporations in this country do not enjoy. In addition, the owners who own other businesses (John Hart, Ted Turner, et al) can rearrange their books to categorize revenue earned from the team under their other business ventures.
He proposes many rational solutions to be implemented: a promotion/relegation system similar to the English Premier League where the worst team moves down into a second-tier league and the best team in that league moves up to the premier league; an international draft, along with more early draft picks for low-revenue teams; and an adjustment to the revenue sharing system that discourages excessive spending but will not reward low-revenue teams that simply pocket the money they receive. If the government chose to intervene, he suggests splitting MLB into the American League and the National League as two separate leagues. This, Zimbalist believes, would bring down team revenues, player salaries, and costs to attend games while at the same time resolving competitive-balance issues. These solutions are certainly not without merit, yet given the myopia of the current caretakers of the game (or, rather again, business), it is unlikely any of them will be enacted, and if so, reach remotely successful fruition.
It seems really unfortunate to think about the idea that baseball really has become less of a game and more of a business. Given the "new wave" of GMs who feel they can put a team together on the basis of sound sabermetrics, it appears that the players are seen more as commodities than they are as people. They say baseball is a game of numbers. While common numbers used to center around batting average, home runs, and runs batted in, numbers studied in the "game" today seem to include expected rate of return, comparative advantage, and cost-benefit analysis.
Rating: 4
Summary: Darn clear thinking
Comment: Good book. Read it after listening to the interview
on First Voice. Detailed, specific, thoughtful.
The interview is online at
http://www.7to7.net/zim.html
There's a transcript for those using dial up.
--J. R.
Rating: 4
Summary: Great insight..
Comment: This was a great view into the inner workings of baseball's front offices. Not only does it give the reader a foundation for understanding the complexities of baseball labor negotiations, but it also gives insight into foundations of free agency and many of the arcane laws that give the sport its monopoly status.
Its a quick read and a great reference for any student of the financial aspects of the game, especially those interested in reform.
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Title: Baseball and Billions: A Probing Look Inside the Big Business of Our National Pastime by Andrew Zimbalist ISBN: 0465006159 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: February, 1994 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis ISBN: 0393057658 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 10 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The 2004 Bill James Handbook (2003 statistics) by Bill James, John Dewan ISBN: 0879462582 Publisher: ACTA Publications Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Baseball Prospectus 2004: Statistics, Analysis and Insight for the Information Age by The Baseball Prospectus Team of Experts ISBN: 0761134026 Publisher: Workman Publishing Company Pub. Date: February, 2004 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The End of Baseball As We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-81 (Sport and Society) by Charles P. Korr, Bob Costas ISBN: 0252027523 Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr (Trd) Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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